Rossyln Scenic Lore

ROSSLYN'S SCENIC LORE THE NORTH ESK RIVER OF ROMANCE "It is telling a tale that has been repeated a thousand times, to say, that a morning of leisure can scarcely be anywhere more delight- fully spent than hi the woods of Rosslyn, and on the banks of the Esk. Rosslyn and its adjacent scenery have associations, dear to the antiquary and historian, which may fairly entitle it to precedence over every other Scottish scene of the same kind." SIR WALTER SCOTT (" Provincial Antiquities of Scotland.") OF ROMANCE abound in Scotland, and RIVERSthe North Esk is one of them. From its source high up among the Pentland Heights near the Boarstane and the boundary line between Midlothian and Tweeddale, it is early gathered into a reservoir, whose engineer was Thomas Stevenson, father of Robert Louis Stevenson, constructed in 1850 to supply water and power used in the paper mills on the river's banks. Passing through Carlops, once a village of weavers, it flows on through the wooded gorge of Habbie's Howe and the woods surrounding Penicuik House, on to " Rosslyn's rocky glen," and Hawthornden, Melville Castle and Dalkeith Palace, entering the Firth of Forth at Musselburgh. Alas that the clear sparkling waters of the moorland stream should be so spoiled by the industries of the Wordsworth's valley." Dorothy Diary entry is still true the water of the stream is dingy and muddy." Modern legislation on river pollution is sadly lacking. 75 " I never passed through a more delicious dell than the Glen of wrote and of the Rosslyn," " Dorothy; river it has been written No stream in Scotland can boast such a varied succession of the most interesting objects, as well as the most romantic and beautiful scenery." It is associated with some of the most famous men in Scottish literature who have lived on its banks, and has inspired the muse of some of Scotland's best poets. SIR WALTER SCOTT AND LASSWADE What was Sir Walter's connection with the district around Rosslyn and Esk's fair stream, whose surrounding woods are lovely indeed in Spring and Summer, but glorious when arrayed in all their Autumn tints, or in the purest white of Winter's snows. All who have an eye for Nature's beauty visit the place; and we need not wonder that Scott found inspiration here, for he loved these sylvan retreats, and wrote " Sweet are thy paths, O passing sweet! By Esk's fair streams that run: O'er airy steep, through copsewood deep, Impervious to the sun." It was to Lasswade that he brought his bride, Charlotte Margaret Carpenter, in 1798; here in 1802 he began "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" and dedicated it to Lord Dalkeith, with its Ballad of " Rosabelle," William of Deloraine's ride, and the Moss-trooper's story, and laid the foundations of his fame. Wordsworth heard four of the six cantos " read and recited in an enthusiastic partly partly " and he the style of chant," praised easy flowing " to him the energy of the Lay. Scott recounted historic and legendary associations of the beauteous vale. For him it was bound up in a thousand happy memories the dearest haunt in the days of his of the sunniest boyish ramblings, and the scene his It is often portions of some of happiest years. asked if Scott's cottage at Lasswade still stands. 76 Yes, but much enlarged. It was a thatched cottage on the right hand of the road from Loanhead to Lasswade, not far from Melville Lodge. Here in this " little place by the roadside, with a view, a garden, and one big living-room," he received many of his friends the young Advocates, George Cranstoun (Lord Corehouse) and William Erskine (Lord Kinnedder), both fond of literature; the Clerks of " Penicuik; Mackenzie, Author of The Man of Feeling," whose recreation was Cock-fighting, and who then occupied a charming villa at Auchindinny; Lord Woodhouselee, who maintained erroneously" that his estate was the scene of Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd," but which the Laird of Newhall corrected in his edition of Ramsay's Works in 1808, although not before it had got into the Dictionary of National Biography and the Ordnance Survey Map. Among others were Dr. John and Sir John Stoddart Leyden, " searching for materials for his Remarks on Local in Scotland" Sir John dwells Scenery" (pub. 1801). on the simple unostentatious elegance of the cottage, and the domestic picture which he there contemplated a man of native kindness and cultivated talent, 'passing the intervals of a learned profession amidst scenes highly favourable to his poetic inspira- tions, not in churlish and rustic solitude, but in the daily exercise of the most precious sympathies as a husband, a father and a friend." Scott called on Sir John at Malta, during his last, tour in 1831, when the latter was Chief Judge, and they recalled the happy Lasswade days. Here also Scott formed intimacies with the noble families of Melville and Buccleuch, to whom he was indebted for his Sheriifsnip, both of whom had Castles in the same valley, of which he wrote " Who knows not Melville's beechy grove, And Rosslyn's rocky glen; Dalkeith which all the virtues " love, And Classic Hawthornden? Lasswade is said to have got its name from the fact that prior to a bridge over the Esk, a girl or lass 77 waded through the water with travellers on her back. When they were securely seated upon the hurdle, and all was to the the "ready start, passenger gave signal, saying, LASS, WADE." Lasswade became the Gandercleugh of the Novels. He introduces Rosslyn and the Eskside district into his writings frequently. Nothing did so much to popularise the district as the publication of the Lay, of which edition followed edition, and its author's fame spread far and wide. The of the Esk is described in the Ballad " scenery The Gray Brother," mention being made of Auchin- dinny, Haunted Wpodhouselee, Melville Castle which was so much admired by George IV on his visit in Castle, Dalkeith, and 1822, Rosslyn Hawthornden," the Motto of the Clerks of Penicuik Free for a Blast," being the tenure of the Barony namely that when the King shall come to hunt, the proprietor shall sit the Buckstane, and wind three blasts of upon " " a horn. It is also quoted in Ivanhoe " From that fan* dome, where suit is paid By blast of bugle free, To Auchindinny's hazel shade, And Haunted Woodhouselee." " " And in The Abbot he describes the great match on Rosslyn Moor between Bothwell and the Baron of who could a hawk's as well as Roslin, judge flight " any man hi Scotland, witnessed by Mary of Scots She was the loveliest creature to look upon that ever I saw with eye, and no lady in the land liked better the fair flight of a falcon. A butt of Rhenish and a ring of gold was the wager . and to hear her voice as clear and sweet as a mavis's whistle, mix among our jolly whooping and whistling; and to mark all the nobles dashing round her happiest he who got a word or a look tearing through moss and hagg, and venturing neck and limb to gain the praise of a bold rider, and the blink of the bonny Queen's bright eye! and as as Ay, ay, pomp pleasure" pass away speedily the wap of a falcon's wing (ch. 17). 78 " " introduces the Rullion Green Guy Mannering " battlefield on the Pentland dear to the slopes " Presbyterian heart"; "Old Mortality the House " of Muir farm; "St. Ronan's Well the Howgate; Allan "Sir William and the Ramsay's " Worthy," beautiful Scottish Air, Roslin Castle," and the equally pleasing song " Of Nannie's charms the shepherd sang, The hills and dales with Nannie rang, While Roslin Castle heard the swam, And echoed back the cheerful strain." " " The original of Monkbarns in the Antiquary was said to be Baron Clerk of and of " " Penicuik; Henry Morton in Old Mortality Borthwick of Lawhead. is for ever associated with Dr. John Brown's "Howgate Rab and His Friends," and as a stopping-place in the Stage-coach run between and Peebles. " Edinburgh " Mrs. Hamilton's of Glenburne is Cottagers " " linked with Easter Howgate; Sherlock Holmes with Mauricewood, and The Carlops of Allan Ramsay with the ring of the weavers' shuttle, the whirr of the muircock, and Mause the Witch of the Pastoral Comedy. Scott frequently walked across country from Lasswade to new Woodhpuselee on the Pentland Hills. Here is his description of the hills, as noted in his Journal "I think I never saw anything more beautiful than the ridge of Carnethy against a clear frosty sky, with its peaks and varied slopes. The hills glowed like purple amethysts; the sky glowed topaz and vennilh'on colours. I never saw a finer screen than Pentland, considering that it is neither rocky nor highly elevated." There were times when Scott would appear at Woodhouselee shortly after breakfast, although at Lasswade he got into the habit of reading and writing late into the night, and took the whole party off for the forenoon among the hills, amusing the young folks with stories such as he was to tell later to the 79 whole world. In the evening, in addition to the ghost stories, he told stories of the Covenanters, who fought on the hills upon which the house stands. THE OLD ROSSLYN INN When the Wordsworths visited Scott at Lasswade, they left the Inn at Rosslyn it was next to the Chapel, like many old rural English Church Inns for the accommodation of worshippers from a distance, and was dated 1660 very early in the morning, and arrived at Lasswade while Scott and his wife were still in bed! So they waited in the sitting-room, and had breakfast with them, and stayed till 2 p.m.

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